The Band of Seven: Ivalice Adventures
by Icarax
Summary: Things are never what they appear like on the first glance. After I'm recruited by a band of six young mercenaries to be their leader, we head off to Ivalice to have fun and adventures. Yet my six friends have their secrets and a past they try to run from
1. Invitation to the Unknown

The Band of Seven – Ivalice Adventures

**Chapter 1: Invitation to the unknown**

I groaned and rubbed my head. Damn, that was nasty. I blinked a bit, cursed and then stood up. I yanked my blankets of the floor and threw them on my bed again. What the hell happened? Well sure, if you want to know… I fell out of my bed. With my head first. And that hurt. I dunno why I fell out of it. I think I had a bad dream or something. Well, whatever. I glanced at the clock on the wall. It was eight o'clock in the morning. Usually I'm not even awake at this hour during vacations, but seeing as I'm awake now, I could as well get up.

My name isn't that important, but my nickname is Icarax. I use that name everywhere, with friends, on the internet, everywhere. I use it a lot more than my real name, so that's why I introduce myself to you all with that name. I'm seventeen years old, an average student with no real goal in life. I have no family anymore except for my dad, who spends more time drunk in the local jail than at home, so I'm pretty much on myself. Just now I said I use the name 'Icarax' when I'm with friends huh? Well, if I had friends. I know some people from school, but real friends? Nope. 

After washing myself a bit and getting dressed, I head downstairs in this little shoebox that's my home, start up the PC (first thing I do every day) and while that box is starting up, make myself some breakfast. Now, I know you'd think that with no family and a drunk, jailed dad I'd be pretty poor, but I'm a hard working guy so I still get around pretty well. 

After gulping down some food, I sit down in front of the PC and first thing I notice is a little textbox in the right-down corner of the screen. "You've got 1 mail!" It reads. Intrigued, for I don't get that much mail, I open it.

After reading it once, I read it again, and again. Why? Because the contents of the mail puzzled me. Here's what it said:

_Yo Icarax_

_I hope you're well mate. Took us a while before we could contact you because none of us really knew how to send an email, but fine, we're over that now! _

_Now that we finally are able to contact you, I'd like to express first of all, in the name of us all here, how glad we are to have learned of your existence! You're perfect dude. You've got everything it takes to join our little group! Don't ask us how we learned that …_

_Fine, I'll tell ya! Gorast here's pretty good at dimension-hopping and that's how we learned of you! You're life's pretty boring huh? Well I can understand that, for from what Gorast described us of you're world, it's a pretty dry and boring place._

_No worries though, dude! For soon that'll be over! At least, if you want it to be over. If you want to know more, how about you come to that place you call 'park' in your town around let's say…2 o'clock? We'll give you all the info and details you want, for I'm sure this email puzzles you. Don't worry too much, just come and meet us, you won't regret it, we promise!_

_So, hope to see you this afternoon!_

_Sincerely, Teridax._

Ehm, okay. I guess none of you can make sense of this either. I never heard or met anyone called 'Teridax' or 'Gorast' (though I have to admit, those names are cool). And 'dimension-hopping'? What the hell? Sounded to me like someone had been reading too much science-fiction. Still, this email was interesting. And the park, a lot of people where there at 2 o'clock, so how dangerous could it be to just go and check it out? It's not like I had anything better to do, it was vacation for me after all. And dad's not gonna complain, is he? He's probably still in jail, sleeping. I closed the email and decided to be in the park this afternoon, at 2 o'clock.

---

I walked slowly through the park. Things weren't as they should be. For one, there was no one in the park. Where usually the park was flooded with people at this hour, now, there was nobody. Not even the birds where singing. Weird. There was no sound to be heard, not even from the cars on the road outside the park. This all made me feel uneasy. Just when I was thinking of going back, I noticed some people. At the pond in the distance, six figures had appeared, but I couldn't recognize them from here. They saw me too and waved at me. So this had to be the little group that had sent me the email This was my last chance to walk away… But somehow, I didn't want to walk away. I didn't feel scared either, despite the fact that I was about to go to people I didn't know at all. I shrugged all worries of me and walked over to the little group at the pond ahead of me. 

One person waved excitedly at me. "Hey! Icarax!" I blinked. These guys really were excited to meet me huh? The guy who had waved excitedly at me jumped up and landed in front of me, which almost made me jump back in surprise. "Glad you decided to come after all dude!" He said excitedly. A sigh could be heard from behind him.

"Calm down Antroz." A female voice said. "This is all pretty new and confusing for Icarax, let Teridax explain everything first." 

The guy called Antroz shrugged. "Fine, whatever you say Spiriah." He returned to his place. I gave the group of six an observing look. They appeared pretty human, if you ignored the weird hair colours or eyes, or their pale skin. Their clothing was all in the same style, just differed a bit in colour. The six were all of different ages. Another guy stood up, this one with ash-grey, long hair and eyes in the same colour. He appeared to me as eighteen.

"Yo dude, I mean, Icarax." He said. "I know you're probably puzzled, so let me start with introducing ourselves." He pointed at himself. "I'm Teridax, the guy who sent you the email." Next, he pointed at the girl who had spoken earlier. She had dark blue hair that reached to her shoulders. "That's Spiriah."

"How do you do." She greeted with a friendly smile. She looked sixteen to me. Next, Teridax pointed to the guy who had jumped to me earlier. 

"Meet Antroz." Teridax said. Antroz smiled widely and waved again. After Antroz, Teridax pointed at a boy whom I guessed was around ten years old. 

"That's Gorast." The boy smiled shyly, but said nothing. Only two more people remained. Teridax pointed at the youngest of those two, a boy who looked fourteen. "He's called Chirox." 

Chirox raised his hand and smiled just like all the others did. "Pleased to meet ya." He greeted. Teridax then proceeded to introduce the last of the group, another boy, his age around fifteen. "And finally, we have Mutran." Teridax finished and he stood in front of the group.

"We're a group of mercenaries from another world, who have been searching through dimensions for a seventh member of our group, the one who will be our leader." Teridax explained. I blinked in disbelief. 

"Right…" I said slowly, taking a step backwards. These guys had obviously lost it. To my surprise, Teridax didn't become angry, he just smiled. "I see you need some proof, well, we expected that, really." He turned to the youngest one of the group. "Gorast, how about you show our new friend a sample of your power?" 

"Which one, brother Teridax?" Gorast asked, again with a shy voice. "I have more than twenty to choose from, you know that…" 

"Right, I forgot that…" Teridax shrugged. He thought for a while. "How about plant control?" 

"Yay!" Gorast cheered. He jumped on his feet, bowed slightly towards me, then walked over to some flowers. I couldn't see what exactly he did, but he pointed his right hand at the flowers, it glowed green for a small while and then all of the sudden the flowers grew ten times in size. Gorast turned towards us with a wide grin on his face. Behind me, the other five applauded for their younger brother. I just stood there, with my jaw on the ground. Teridax patted me on the shoulder. "Proof enough that we're not from around here, Icarax?" 

I gave him a confused look. "Well ehm sure, but would you mind explaining why you are here, why you asked me to come and just how the heck you learned about me!" 

Teridax chuckled. "Of course my friend, of course." Meanwhile Gorast had reduced the flowers to their former size and he then walked back to us and sat down again. 

"Well Icarax, like I said already, we're a group of mercenaries from another world, looking for a good leader for our group." Teridax nodded towards Gorast. "Young Gorast is, like I said in my email, pretty good at dimension-hopping. It was he who found you first and who told us about you. And that's pretty much why we're here: you." 

I looked at myself. "Me? But why would you…" Then it hit me. But surely, they could not be serious? I mean, seriously… "Don't tell me that…"

"Exactly!" Chirox smiled. "Gorast told us all about you and you're the perfect guy for the job! We want you to be our leader, isn't that right, brother Teridax?"

Teridax looked at me again and he nodded. "That's pretty much it. We came here in hopes of having you join us."

"But me!" I cried out. "Why me? I'm a plain normal boring person, I have no superpowers like I guess you six do, I know nothing of being a mercenary! How can you pick me! How can you even say I'm perfect for the job!" 

"Truth to be told." Mutran grinned. "We can't." 

"Then why pick me?" I asked, puzzled.

"Well…" They all paused for a very long time. "You're name is just so damn cool." Antroz finally said. I fell on the ground, anime-style. 

"Tell me you're joking." I groaned.

"Rest assured Icarax, they are." Teridax assured me with a grin. "We just have, a peculiar sense of humour." His tone changed to serious. "But as for your question why we picked you, it just feels right. Besides, we have undeniable proof that you are the one to be our leader." 

"What kind of proof?" I asked, still confused, shocked and unsure. Teridax once again mentioned to Gorast, who took a small necklace with a shard of something attached to it. As soon as it came near me, the shard started to glow bright red. 

"That's the proof." Teridax said. "That's a shard of the weapon our leader has to be able to wield: The Twin-Bladed Black Fire Sword. It's a very powerful weapon, none of us can wield it. We decided long ago that the one who can wield the Black Fire Sword will be our leader. That shard reacts with the one person who can wield the sword. And that person is you." 

"That little lightbulb has you all convinced that I'm the one to be your leader?" I eyed the piece of metal suspiciously. The six nodded eagerly. I sighed deeply. "What have I done to deserve this." 

"Common Icarax, you really won't regret it if you decide to come with us." Spiriah smiled. 

"Yeah, you'll have the time of your life, we promise!" Antroz added. Gorast walked up to me, his young eyes looking pleading at me.

"Please Icarax? Will you please become our leader? We've been waiting for so long." Damn, this kid was adorably cute! One look at his cute, pleading eyes would be enough to melt any resistance. I sighed in defeat. "Suppose for a moment that I will become your leader, I'd still be a powerless human! And where would we be mercenaries? Not in this world, I suppose. And what would you all expect me to do and to be like?" 

"The power issue will be fixed as soon as you agree to be our leader, don't worry about that." Teridax replied. He patted Gorast on the head. "Young Gorast here can take us to any dimension we want, so the 'where' issue is also solved. As for how we expect you to be…" He glanced at his group. "Just make sure to have fun with us and enjoy yourself, and we'll all be happy."

I sighed again and looked at all their expectant faces. I avoided looking at Gorast, out of fear of melting again at the sight of his adorably cute, pleading eyes. "You guys really want me to do this, huh? Even though I barely know a thing about you all, or you about me."

They all nodded eagerly and I rolled my eyes. 

"How about this, Icarax." Mutran said excitedly. "You choose a dimension you really want to go to, and in that dimension you'll spend some time with us, trying out how life with us would be. If you don't like it, we'll take you back. If you like it, you'll become our leader and we'll have tons of fun in other dimensions. What do you say?" 

Teridax smiled. "Ah, excellent idea Mutran! A test period, so to speak." He looked at me. "What do you say, Icarax?" 

Gorast tugged at my arm. "Please?" Damn. Cuteness overkill. I thought about it for a small while. Dad is drunk and in jail, my life is boring and nobody here would really miss me. And these guys didn't look like they were trying to lure me in some kind of trap. What did I have to loose? Besides, dimension hopping and cool powers didn't sound too bad. 

"Fine then, I'll do this test period and see how I like it, okay?" 

"Yay!" Gorast cheered as he embraced my leg. Gawd, this little guy is too cute for words! 

"Choose a world you've always wanted to visit, Icarax." Teridax said to me. "It doesn't matter if you think it doesn't exist for real or not, Gorast can take us there." 

I scratched the back of my head, thinking. What world did I want to go to that you could have a lot of fun in? Then I suddenly got an idea.

"How about… Ivalice from Final Fantasy XII. Do you think you can take us there, Gorast?" I asked cautiously. The young kid looked up at me with a big, happy smile on his face.

"No problem, brother Icarax!" He clapped his hands excitedly. "Alright, all of you form a circle around me and Icarax." 

They did as the youngest of the group asked and the remaining five members formed a circle around us, holding each others hands. Gorast took my hands and closed his eyes. I looked nervously at him and the others. All of them had an excited look on their face. I felt uneasy, not knowing what was in store for me, but somehow I felt excited too. Gorast began to chant some sort of spell and he started to glow with a bright, green light, which blinded me. Suddenly, my feet no longer touched the ground. Gorast began to glow even brighter and suddenly we were falling. I could not see falling through what or where, for Gorast's light still blinded me. I held the little boy's hands while the seven us fell. Fell towards a big adventure.

---

**Next chapter: I arrive in Ivalice with the rest of my new group. I soon learn the true nature of my new six friends and discover that I too have changed! After being united with my weapon, I'm quickly thrown into my first battle… **

Hope this chapter was decent at least. This is my first fanfic, I hope it'so kay so far. Many thanks to the entire Kel's Guild of Authors for inspiring me to write this story. Humor, adventure and action await in the next chapters of this tale! 

PS: Yes, the idea of a band of seven mercenaries does come from InuYasha. Who cares, this band is very different. Just enjoy the story for what it is. p


	2. Welcome to Ivalice!

**Chapter 2: ****Welcome in Ivalice!**

I groaned and opened my eyes. My vision was spinning, making me dizzy. I quickly sat up and shook my head. I scratched the back of my head, then looked around. My vision had stopped spinning and surprised me by letting me see unfamiliar things. Like, for example, I know there are no desserts at home, yet here I am, in the middle of a freaking hot dessert, lying on the sand in the shadow of a palm tree. I blinked. Right, palm trees in the dessert? Then I remembered it all again, my strange encounter with these six mercenaries who wanted me (of all people) as their leader and that kid, Gorast, glowing brighter than a lamp of 75 watt, us falling and then me blacking out. I looked up to the sky, it was blue and clear and the air was fresh. Well, I no longer was home anymore, that was certain. Had Gorast really taken us to Ivalice? That was almost too good to believe!

Speaking of Gorast, where was he? And the others, for that matter? I quickly looked around, but saw nobody. I almost began to panic, fearing I was alone in the middle of nowhere! But then something jumped on my back and a child's voice yelled: "Yay! Brother Icarax is awake! I'm glad!" Ah, too cute! I smiled.

"Nice to see you too, Gorast." The boy let go of me and sat down in front of me. I blinked. He didn't look the same. "Ehm, Gorast, is that really you?" I asked the kid in front of me. He smiled innocently and nodded. 

"It is me, only in my… preferred form." He replied.

"Preferred form?" I repeated, confused.

"Well, to not scare anyone in your world, we decided to blend in with how you people look, but in other worlds, our appearance changes." The little one explained. 

His overall build was still pretty much the same. He still had pale skin, bright green eyes and short, dark-blonde hair that reached to halfway his neck. His clothing still consisted of a black shirt, black pants and boots, but it was what he wore over that that was so different. His torso, entire right arm and his left shoulder were covered with emerald green armour that suited him perfectly. An emerald green cape was attached to his shoulders, but hung more to the left side of his body, so it covered his left arm. The tip of his boots were protected by the same emerald green armour as the rest of his body. He had a green stripe on each of his cheeks and on his right hand was fitted a strange, golden weapon, that looked a bit like a crossbow, only it should apparently be loaded with different ammunition than arrows.

"Right…" I said slowly, observing the little boy in front of me. "And how do you change appearance exactly?" 

"It's not really me who changed." He smiled. "But my armour. It can shapeshift into whatever we want it to. It can shift into an armour that covers us entirely, grow a pair of wings out of our back, or become as much as a single necklace or an earring." He looked away shyly. "At least, that's what brother Teridax would say." 

"Shapeshifting armour huh." I blinked again. "That sounds pretty darn cool." 

"It does, doesn't it?" Gorast replied excitedly. "You should try and shift your armour into something you like too, brother Icarax!" 

"Shift my armour into…" Confused, I looked at myself. And as soon as I did that I jumped to my feet in shock and surprise. I looked… different? I had the same clothing as Gorast, black shirt, pants and boots. And I had armour too, yet the colour was different from Gorast's. Mine was gold. Shiny, pure gold. It's current form was the standard form of armour: covering my chest, shoulders, knees and shins. And according to Gorast, this armour could take on whatever form I wanted it to. I was about to ask just how I could shapeshift my armour, when I stopped and realized that I somehow knew how to do that already. 

I pictured the preferred form of armour in my mind and focussed on it. Immediately I could feel the armour shift. My shoulder armour grew, my hands became covered with golden, fingerless gloves, the tip of my boots became armoured and grew two deadly spikes. A red scarf appeared around my neck and four blade-like, golden-black wings grew from my back. 

"Cool…" I said slowly. "Now how did I know how to do this?"

Gorast ignored my question and jumped in the air in joy. "You look terrific brother Icarax!" He turned around and ran away, to someone who had just arrived. "Brother Teridax, brother Icarax just changed his armour!" 

I looked in the direction Gorast had ran off to, and sure enough, Teridax was there. He too had his appearance changed. His clothing was the same as mine and Gorast, but his armour was dark-red. He had armour that only covered his chest and his entire left arm and hand, extending each of the fingers of his left hand with long, wicked claws. Three wicked silver spikes erupted from his left shoulder. His right arm was free of any armour and his gloved right hand held a wicked, twin-bladed scythe. Teridax smiled and patted Gorast on the head. "I know Gorast, I saw him do it." The oldest of us seven walked over to me with Gorast at his side.

"You look impressive, brother Icarax." Teridax greeted. 

"Thanks, I guess." I replied. I looked curiously at him. "I'm kind of confused here, Teridax." I told him slowly. "Somehow, I knew how to change the form of my armour. And somehow, I know a lot more. I know perfectly how to fight and I know how to use a lot of strange powers as well. Care to enlighten me?" 

"It's nothing special." Teridax shrugged. "While we were crossing dimensions, all of us except for Gorast combined our powers to transform you into one of us, with all the knowledge, power and armour that requires." 

"That would explain a lot." I said. I glanced at Teridax again. "Where were you, anyway? And where are the others?" 

"The others are probably off exploring a bit. It's our first time in Ivalice, too." 

"So we really are in Ivalice?" I asked, still a bit in disbelief. Gorast grinned.

"I told you I could take us anywhere, did I not?" I smiled at him and patted his head. Everybody seemed to do that. 

"Well, seems like you were all telling the truth then." I looked around, taking in my surroundings. "Unbelievable, I'm really in Ivalice." I looked once again at Teridax. "But you didn't tell me where you were." 

"Well, while you were still resting and the others exploring, I went to go and get something."

"And what exactly is that something?" I asked. Teridax snapped with his fingers and out of nowhere a huge sword fell from the air and stabbed into the sand. My eyes widened. This blade was simply enormous. Teridax nodded towards it. "That, brother Icarax, is the Twin-Bladed Black Fire Sword." He smiled at me. "Your weapon." 

I blinked and walked over to the huge weapon. It was bigger than me! "This." I said with a nod to the sword. "Is my weapon?" Gorast and Teridax both nodded. I sighed and looked at the sword again. It was gigantic, to say the least. It's black, thin handle was at least a metre in length, with a big, silver sickle at its end. The blade itself consisted of, like the name suggested, two long blades, each being at least a metre in length. The cutting edges faced away from one other, making the sword thin horizontally, but very wide and broad vertically. It looked incredibly heavy and I couldn't even begin to imagine how I would ever be able to do as much as lift that thing.

"Go ahead brother, pick it up, it's yours." I glanced at Teridax over my shoulder, planning to give him a dry reply, but I decided not to say it. Sighing, I laid my hand on the handle and prepared for the humiliation of a lifetime when I failed at lifting this sword up. My eyes grew thrice their size as I managed, with ease I might add, to lift this enormous thing up with one hand. I blinked and turned to Teridax and Gorast, who was jumping in the air out of joy. I let the sword rest on my shoulder, it wasn't heavy at all… 

"Ehm, Teridax, I don't have supernatural strength by any chance, right?" I asked carefully.

"No brother." Teridax replied. "You're just destined to wield that weapon. None of us can even lift it up, it's too damn heavy. But you can, because you're its rightful owner." 

"Right…" I said weakly, glancing at the huge Black Fire Sword again. I walked back towards Teridax and Gorast, still amazed at what I had just done. I glanced at myself again and then made the wings on my armour disappear. 

"Say Teridax, not that I'm complaining about this fancy gold and black or something, but is it possible to change the colour of my armour?" 

My new friend nodded. "Yeah, you just focus on the colour you want. And let me tell you, brother, that it's not just the armour that can change shape. With some practice, you could go as far as shapeshift your body." 

"You mean, like, grow some real wings for example? Give myself six arms or something like that?" 

"Precisely." Teridax replied. "Of course, there are some limits, like, you can't shapeshift your face or the colour of your hair, eyes or skin."

"Did you shapeshift your body before?" I asked, eying him curiously. Teridax shook his head. 

"No, I'm fine with just my armour, so I never focussed on learning to change my body." He took Gorast's hand and started to walk further into the dessert.

"Let's go meet the others, what do you say, Icarax?" 

"Sure, just give me a moment." I had decided to give myself some new looks entirely. I didn't mind the clothing style they had, I just preferred something else. With some effort, I managed to change the colour of my clothes from black to white, except for my boots, which remained black. The colour of my armour changed from gold to silver. I made my shoulder and leg armour disappear, leaving me with only my chest armour and the armoured tips of my boots. The colour of the red scarf around my neck (believe me or not, that scarf is actually just my armour in a different shape, seems like the armour can change the material its made up from as well) changed from red to purple. A white headband appeared around my forehead to keep my long, black hair, which reached to halfway my back in terms of length, out of my eyes. I got some black gloves with silver wrist protectors and then I was satisfied.

"I'm getting the hang of this shapeshifting, I think." I muttered with a smile. I swung the Black Fire Sword a bit, to make sure it was still light as a feather, then let it rest on my shoulder again. I joined Teridax and Gorast and then we were off to meet with the four other members of our little group. 

It didn't take long for us to find them, they found us. They came running towards us, screaming and yelling warnings at us to get away. Before we could ask what was going on, a big, green reptile came from over a sand hill, chasing after our four friends. I gulped. I had forgotten of these Tyrannosaurs that stalked the dessert of Ivalice. Teridax glanced at me. "Do we let them run or are we going to run with them?" 

I scratched the back of my head, then looked at my Twin-Bladed Black Fire Sword. "How about we fight it? Seven of us, one of those. I'm sure we can handle it." 

"Fine brother, let's head into battle then." Teridax let go of Gorast's hand. He glanced at the younger boy. "You get those four chickens to stop running and start aiding us in this fight." Gorast nodded, shapeshifted himself some wings and flew towards the others. I looked at Teridax, who nodded. 

I lifted my sword from my shoulder and held it, ready for my first battle. "Right." I said, sure of myself. "Let's do this."

---

**Next chapter: The Band of Seven fights their first battle as a group and I discover the power of my Twin-Bladed Black Fire Sword!**

These are allchapters to introduce Icarax and you the readers a bit to his new self. Soon enough the Band of Sevenwill start having real adventures andfun. Oh, and yes, they are powerful. All seven of them. Nuts and crazy, yeah, but powerful.


	3. Weapons, powers and beer!

**Chapter 3:**** Weapons, powers and… beer!**

The Tyrannosaur roared as me and Teridax charged at it. We both jumped in a different direction to avoid getting caught by its snapping jaws, and I swung my Black Fire Sword. I hit the mark and delivered a powerful blow with my sword, causing the overgrown lizard to stagger backwards. I landed neatly on my two feet and smirked, shouldering my sword again. The beast snarled in my direction, but I just smiled, pointing my sword on it.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Roar while you can."

Infuriated, the dinosaur-like monster prepared to charge at me, but it never even started its assault, for Teridax appeared suddenly at its side and gave it a powerful blow with his wicked, twin-bladed scythe. The beast turned towards my older friend, ready to attack him instead, but vines rose up from the ground all around the Tyrannosaur, trapping its legs. I looked around, then noticed Gorast standing on a safe distance. He created a green orb of energy in his left hand, then put that orb in his launcher. Quickly taking aim, the boy fired and hit the reptile dead-on. As soon as the orb hit, vines sprang from it, wrapping themselves around the Tyrannosaur.

"That kid is golden." I remarked to Teridax.

"You have no idea…" Teridax replied, with a voice that had a clear hint of pride in it.

While the Tyrannosaur struggled against the plants that were trying to choke it to death, the other four members of our little band arrived. Each of them was in a transformed state, thanks to their shapeshifting armour. I observed them a bit. Spiriak was armed with a long, deadly trident, Antroz carried two huge, bended, broad blades that almost looked like huge claws turned into weapons. Chirox had three long wristblades on each wrist and Mutran finally, carried a large, rectangular shield with razor sharp edges in his left hand, and a melee weapon that looked like a sword, but with three short blades instead of one sprouting from the hilt, in his right hand.

"Took you guys long enough to get here." I snorted with faked annoyance, letting the Black Fire Sword rest on my shoulder again. (Yeah, I love that pose, what of it?) "So what did you guys do to get this beastie" I pointed to the Tyrannosaur who had almost freed himself of the vines. "On our neck?"

Antroz looked at me, his eyes widened. "Woah! Look dudes, our leader is reunited with his Twin-Bladed Black Fire Sword!"

I rolled with my eyes. "Just answer the question Antroz."

"Ehm well…" Antroz looked nervously to the others. "You see eh…"

Spiriah rolled with her eyes and sighed. "Chirox fried its tail while playing around with his lightning powers."

"I did not!" Chirox protested loudly. Mutran elbowed him in the side.

"Oh yes you did." The older boy accused. Chirox turned to him, wristblades ready.

"Did not!" Mutran raised his weapon and his shield as well. None noticed that the Tyrannosaur had broken free from Gorast's vines.

"You did!"

"Did not!"

"You did!"

"Did not!"

I scratched the back of my head and briefly wondered if I should tell them about the freed Tyrannosaur that was about to eat them or not. In the end, I decided to save my new friends. I jumped in the air and landed on the back of the reptile. With one, mighty stroke of my sword, I broke the creature's neck. It collapsed right next to the bickering Chirox and Mutran, dead. Both boys jumped away in terror as the big dinosaur-like monster fell at their feet. I stepped of the corpse and dusted myself off.

"Thanks dudes, you were a big help." I said sarcastically. Teridax and Gorast walked up to us, both smiling.

"Now, now, brother Icarax." Teridax grinned. "Be honest: did you really need us all to fight that monster?"

I shrugged. "Not really Teridax, I just wanted to observe your styles a bit instead of doing all the work myself." Once again the Black Fire Sword rested on my right shoulder. "If I am to be your leader, I have to know everything about those I'm supposed to lead, huh?"

"True." Teridax agreed, putting his scythe on his back. "But you'll be able to do that all in due time. We have all the time of the world, there's no rush."

"If you say so." I replied simply. I swallowed dryly. "Man, I don't know about you guys, but I'm thirsty. What do you say we head off to town and sooth our throats with some nice, cold beer?" I glanced down at Gorast. "Eh, except for you Gorast, you're too young for alcohol, hope a lemonade or so will suffice for you." The boy blushed shyly at my comment.

"Well, sounds like a fine idea to me." Antroz said, speaking for the entire group. "And while we're drinking, you can get to know us all better, brother Icarax."

"Yeah, sure." I smiled. I looked at them. "But if we're going into town, you might all wanna wear something more casual or personal, like me. Not that I have anything against the common black, really, but I just like diversity among my team."

They saw my point, and as we walked into the direction of the city we saw in the distance (which I knew was Rabanastre), there was a lot of shapeshifting going on behind me.

"Aaah, now that sooths the throat." I said with a pleased sigh, placing my now half-empty glass of cool beer on the table. "Man, I was in need of that." I stretched my arms a bit, then sank a bit further away in my chair. For the record: we're in the Sandsea in Rabanastre, enjoying our drinks that are washing away all the desert sand we ate during our little run-in with that Tyrannosaur. To my relief, the others had all changed their appearance to something that distinguished them all from each other. That was good, I liked clothing that resembles personal style and preference more than a common uniform.

"It amazes me how your personality has changed since the moment we met, brother Icarax." Teridax noted, taking a sip of his beer. I glanced at the oldest of us, who now was wearing long, black pants with wide ends and sturdy shoes armoured fully with his signature dark-red armour. He still wore a black, sleeveless shirt and over that he now wore some dark-red chest armour, in the same style as me. Over that again, he had a dark-grey, sleeveless leather jacket. His left hand was covered with an armoured, dark-red glove reaching to his elbow, while his right had just a black, fingerless glove reaching to his wrist. His twin-bladed scythe stood close to him, against the wall.

"I'm just already getting used to this stuff." I told him with a smirk. "And I'm quite enjoying it so far. Can't wait till we find ourselves a first, real adventure."

"Do you think it'll be easy to find some jobs around here for mercenaries like us?" Spiriah inquired with her eyebrows raised. She wasn't drinking a beer, she had preferred an ice-tea instead. Like the others, her appearance had changed. Spiriah was wearing a dark-blue top with no sleeves that left her belly exposed and a short-skirt in the same colour. Her dark-blue boots reached to well over her knees and the front of those boots had silver armour on it and dark-blue, fingerless gloves that reached to her shoulders covered her arms. Her elbows were covered with a piece of silver armour. The most peculiar thing about her outfit was the armour on her main body. A stroke of silver armour covered her entire spine, all the way down to her skirt, where it merged with the belt that held her skirt up. The armour ran up to her neck and covered her neck, throat and shoulders. From her shoulders, the silver armour extended to just above her breasts at the sides, but came to a pointed end just between her breasts. Finally, she had two golden hairpins in her blue hair. I guess she had decided to show off her perfect curves when she thought up that outfit and armour.

"There's work enough to be found for us mercenaries. It's wartime here, after all." I shrugged, taking another sip of my beer. After gulping that down, I glanced at my buddies. "Now tell me some more about yourself."

"What do you want to know, brother?" Teridax asked calmly. I bit my lip, thinking.

"Start with your weapons and specialty in combat first. Antroz, how about you begin?"

"Sure." He shrugged, putting down his beer on the table. He too had changed his appearance. He wore long, red pants, but they didn't end as wide as Teridax' did. The red he had was different from Teridax' too. Whereas Teridax had red was more like blood, Antroz' red was flaming red, like a ruby. He had dark-brown boots with their tips armoured with dark-grey armour. Around his waist he had a dark-green scarf tied, and his torso was covered with a flaming red sweater with long sleeves. He had no gloves or chest armour, but his shoulders were covered with dark-grey armour.

Antroz thought for a while, then whipped his brown hair out of his eyes and answered: "I use my two claw blades in battle for close combat, but personally I prefer fighting with my control over heat and flames, it's the power I have developed most."

"Hmm, developed most? So you posses more than just control over heat and flames?" I asked interested. He nodded.

"We all posses a great array of powers, over twenty different kinds, I think. We just decided to develop the power that was most to our liking the most. I think you too should try to find out what power you like best, brother." He replied. I frowned a bit, then nodded.

"Yeah, I think I'll do that in our next battle." I turned to Chirox, who was gulping down his third beer. I let him drink however much he wanted, if he got drunk and had a headache in the morning, it would be his own damn fault. And, I had a feeling that a drunk Chirox would be plain hilarious to see, so that's why I didn't stop his drinking. "Anyway, what about you, Chirox?"

The younger boy put down his now empty glass. Chirox wore short silver-grey pants reaching to his knees and silver-grey shoes with black socks. A white shirt with short sleeves covered his torso. Both of his hands were covered with black, fingerless gloves and his wrists had silver wrist protectors that connected to the three wristblades he had on each wrist. For armour, Chirox carried black shoulder armour on each of his shoulders and some black chest armour, but it only reached till his breastbone. As a finishing touch, he wore a black bandana that covered his black hair that was about the same length as Gorast's.

"Well, I'm an expert at close combat with these wristblades of mine, but I'm just as good at flying and using my lightning powers."

"Yeah, we totally saw how skilled you are with your lightning." Mutran snorted sarcastically. "After all, that's how we got that Tyrannosaur on our neck."

Chirox was about to give a taunting reply, but I silenced him. "Enough already. Mutran tell me about your battle skills. I noticed your melee weapon is gone."

The blonde youngling turned his attention to me. He had his long, light-blonde hairs tied together in a ponytail and had a golden earring in each ear. His outfit was a bit similar to Chirox': a black shirt with short sleeves and short pants reaching to his knees, but black instead of grey. His shoes where black with a silver, armoured tip and his socks were white. On his right arm he had a golden armband and no glove. His left arm, the arm he carried his shield with, was entirely covered with golden, flexible armour. Finally, his right shoulder was covered with golden shoulder armour that extended so it covered the are around his neck and throat as well.

"I usually don't carry a melee weapon, brother." Mutran explained. "My Razor Edged Shield is good enough as a weapon and defence. When needed, though, I can shapeshift my armour into an extra weapon." He smiled at me. "My real weapon, though, is my mind. I'm not that great in psychical combat, I admit. I prefer to attack the mind's of my foes. Took me a while to be able to do that, but it is quite effective, let me assure you. That's also the power I developed."

"I'll see your mental skills in battle soon enough, I hope, Mutran." I turned to our youngest member. "And what about you Gorast, what's your specialty?"

Like all the others, Gorast had his appearance changed. He had a white shirt with short sleeves and over that a light silver chest armour, looking a lot like mine. He had light-grey, long pants and black cowboy boots. He had light-grey, fingerless gloves reaching to his elbows on both of his arms and an emerald green cape that was fastened around his neck, a bit like a scarf. He had silver shoulder armour on both shoulders and emerald green armbands on both his arms. His right hand was still fitted with his golden launcher.

"Hmm, just a second Gorast." I halted him before he could start his explanation. "Your looks are great, but it still needs something." He looked at me, confused, as I held my hand over his head. It took some effort, but I managed to make his armour shift to what I wanted after a while. And soon enough, Gorast was wearing a black cowboy hat.

"There you go, cowboy." I grinned.

"Man, that's so it." Antroz agreed. "Definitely suits him."

Gorast grabbed the hat, looked at it for a while, then put it back on. He turned to look at me with a light blush on his cheeks.

"Thank you, brother Icarax."

I grinned, picked up his hat, ruffled through his blond hair and then put his hat back on. "Don't mention it little brother. Now tell me, what's your specialty?"

Gorast brightened a bit. He raised his right hand, the hand with the golden launcher fitted on it. "My… my weapon is this Energy Bolt Launcher. I got it from Teridax and I can use it to… to fire off orbs of my own energy with more force than when I'd just throw them. And… I… My specialty is plant control."

I smiled, remembering the vines that had trapped the Tyrannosaur. "Yeah, I guessed so." I looked at Teridax. "You gave him that launcher?"

Teridax nodded. "I gave it to him after…" He paused for a moment. "After he got injured in a past battle." The others all bowed their heads, their gazes dark and sad. "We faced a treacherous enemy. He broke Gorast's melee weapon over his knee when he had him trapped in a corner. He would have been killed then if…" Again, he paused. This time longer than the time before. "If we didn't finish off that foe in the nick of time. Since then, I decided Gorast was simply too young for melee combat and I made him his Energy Bolt Launcher, which he has been using ever since." Teridax shrugged and took a big gulp of his beer. He turned to Spiriah. "Anyway Spiriah, why don't you tell our leader of your combat powers?"

It became clear to me that they all rather avoided this subject as to how Gorast gained his launcher weapon. I decided to let it go, for now. I turned and listened to Spiriah, who had grabbed her trident.

"I use this Trident in melee combat and I have specialized myself in using my magnetism powers." Spiriah explained with a smile.

"I can already see the advantages of that power." I nodded. I turned to the final member of our group. "And you, Teridax? What's your specialty?"

The eighteen year old mercenary smiled. "I've been using my Twin-Bladed Scythe for as long as I can remember. As for my power…" His gaze darkened just a little bit. "I'm a master of Shadows. Shadow power is my specialty."

"Shadows huh." I said, blinking. "So you pretty much bend the shadows to your will and are able to fire of beams of pure darkness?"

"Something like that." He shrugged. "I'm the oldest, I thought that the most dangerous power of all would best be handled by the oldest one of us."

"Well if you're happy with it, fine with me." I said, waving my hand. I looked at myself. "As for me, I'll see what I'll specialize myself in. I mean, it's not an easy choice." I counted my available powers on my fingers. "Plasma seems cool, but so does heat vision. Or maybe gravity control, or sonic powers. Aargh, too much choices. I'll make up my mind later."

"Ah, there's no rush brother." Mutran assured me. "Besides, we all tested our powers out in battle to see what we liked best."

I glanced at him. "Well then I'd better find our first little job as soon as possible. But I think we should call it a day for now. Let's sightsee Rabanastre a little more, then find ourselves a place to stay for the night, what do you say?"

"You're the leader." Teridax reminded me. "You decide."

"Well then." I smiled, picking up my Twin-Bladed Black Fire Sword from its place against the wall. "Let's go."

**Next chapter: The Band of Seven explores Rabanastre and stumbles across their first job as a band of mercenaries. With delight, the group plunges themselves in their first adventure!**

You know, writing these previews for the next chapters is hard, since I'm never fully sure of what'll happen in the next chapter. So if a chapter doesn't fit with its preview, don't complain. =P  
Anyway, this was a pretty long chapter with lots of fashion and clothing in it, well sorry, but I had to give y'all an idea of how these characters look. Onwards to the next chapter and the next adventure of these seven dudes, I'd say!

PS: leave a review too, if you like this story. Please?


	4. First employment

**Chapter 4: First employment**

After sightseeing Rabanastre, we found a nice little inn where we retired for the night. We got two rooms for two people and one room for three. Chirox and Mutran took one room, Spiriah, Antroz and Teridax banded together in the room for three and I shared my room with young Gorast. As I laid on my back on my bed, I glanced at Gorast who was sleeping in the bed next to mine. Well, we wasn't sleeping yet, just had his eyes closed for the moment. I loved that kid, he's so cute. Seeing him snuggled so warmly under his covers in that big bed made him look even more cute. Compared to me… I had lazily thrown myself on my bed, not even bothering to get under the covers, only doing as much as removing my boots. My sword stood within reach against the wall. I pondered a bit about today. Lot's of stuff had happened! I had woken up in my familiar little room in my boring world, and now I was here, in an inn in Ivalice. Too weird for words, almost seems like some third grade fanfiction some people used to write and put on the internet, back at home. But ah, like I cared. This life appealed to me much, much more no matter what people say. Yet I still had some questions about my new companions. I had this sneaking suspicion they were hiding something from me.

"Gorast." I said slowly. The boy's eyes snapped open at the mentioning of his name.

"Yes, brother Icarax?" he asked sleepily.

"Is it me, or do all of you rather avoid talking about the battle where you lost your melee weapon?" I asked slowly, being careful not to sound pushing or suspicious. Gorast was silent for a long time. For a brief moment I wondered if he'd answer at all.

"It's just… a rather painful subject to talk about. We prefer to avoid it, if not forget it." Gorast finally said. "So no, it's not you brother, we really would be grateful if you didn't ask too much about it."

"Fine with me." I shrugged. "But am I correct if I say that you six were active quite some time before you came looking for me?"

"Yes." Gorast said, feeling uneasy. I chuckled.

"I guess it was just 'The Band of Six' huh? Whereas now we're 'The Band of Seven'!"

Gorast nodded slowly. "Yes, we were just The Band of Six then…"

"I wonder how long you all actually spent time looking for a leader." I said quietly. Gorast seemed to stop breathing as I said that. I noticed that, but said nothing of it. "Ah well, doesn't matter. What matters is that there are seven of us now and that we'll have to look for some fun tomorrow, so we better get some rest now." I smiled at the youngest member of my team. "Goodnight Gorast, sleep well."

"Thank you… Goodnight to you too, brother." The boy replied, before turning over in his bed, his back turned to me. I had decided to not dig too deep for answers and truths now, but I felt more suspicious than before that they were all hiding something. Whatever it was, I decided not to care about it then, and just sleep and rest for tomorrow.

* * *

"Wow, it still amazes me how big this city is." Gorast said as me and him walked through the streets, the next day.

"That, it is." I agreed, carrying my sword in the typical fashion on my shoulder. "But I've seen it all before in the game. Though I do admit, in real life, it's impressive."

"I wonder how the others are doing." The little one said, fiddling with his launcher.

"Probably fine." I shrugged. "They have the weapons and the power."

"Sometimes, power and weapons aren't enough to defend yourself." Gorast said with a sad voice. I glanced at him, but decided not to ask anything, it probably related to that fight in which he almost died.

"Anyway Gorast, cheer up, we're looking for a fitting job for mercenaries like us, remember?" I took off his cowboy hat and ruffled through his hairs, then put his hat back on. Just as we prepared to walk on, a voice behind us stopped us in our tracks.

"Ehm, excuse me?" We turned around and saw a young girl with blond hair which she had in two pigtails. My eyes widened slightly as I recognized her as Penelo.

"Yeah, what is it, lass?" I asked, trying to come off a bit as 'cool'.

"Well, please don't take me as rude, but…" She bit her lip and paused for a while. "I accidentally heard a part of your conversation in the Sandsea yesterday. You're warrior mercenaries, right?"

"At least we like to think so." I replied with a grin. "Why? You got a job for us?"

"Kind of…" She replied slowly. "I usually don't turn to complete strangers, but the clans wouldn't accept my problem as a hunt and these imperials aren't much of a help either."

"So, what's your problem?" I asked again.

"I'm working for a Bangaa who has a good running shop here in Rabanastre, but the last few months lots of the shipments he sends from here or he expects to arrive get robbed. Always by the same group of bandits even. It's really hurting his business, but no one seems to want to do anything about it." She answered.

"So, you want us to put an end to the robbing, right?" I asked, interested. This sounded like a good, fun job to start with.

"Yes, I'd like that. Only I'm not sure if I'm able to offer a good payment." Penelo replied with a sigh.

"Payment depends on the job." I said. "Are you able to give us some more info? Like, are these bandits dangerous, powerful, whatever? Do you know where we might find them? Or do you have perhaps a description of them?"

We began to walk towards Migello's store, Penelo walking along with us. "They always attack on the Ozmone Plains, near the entrance to the Zertinan Caves. Or most of the time they do, at least." The girl explained. "I'm not sure about their level of power, but it's quite a large group and they aren't afraid of murder if it's necessary to achieve their goal. I don't know much about their appearance, but the merchants who came back intact at least managed to tell us that there are at least three Bangaa among them."

"Sounds fun enough." I replied with a nod. "About payment, I ask thousand gil from you, to be paid after we captured them. Do you think we might get a bounty if we turn these bastards in?"

"I think so." Penelo replied with a thoughtful expression on her face. We had arrived at the store, Penelo prepared to go inside. "I'll do my best to get thousand gil, since I myself don't have that much, but if you manage to capture these bandits, I'm sure Migello will be more than willing to pay."

"Then it's a deal." I decided, holding out my hand for her to shake it. She grasped my hand hesitatingly with her own and we shook our hands firmly, as if that sealed the deal. "Don't worry, we'll get them." I promised with a grin. Penelo seemed relieved, then her eyes widened as she realized something.

"Oh I almost forgot, a new shipment has left earlier this morning, Migello warned them not to take the same route as the other shipments, but I'm afraid they might be stubborn…"

"Gotcha." I said with a nod. "If we hurry we'll catch up with them and I hope they've taken the wrong route. It'll spare me and my friends the trouble to find the bandits." I grabbed Gorast's hand. "Come Gorast, let's hurry and find the others. There's work to do."

* * *

A bit later, I had gathered my entire team again and briefed them of our job.

"Ozmone Plains is quite a journey." I said. "But we needn't hurry ourselves to death. All we need to do is catch up with the shipment that left this morning first. We'll check what route it takes and see if we can persuade them to help us. If not, I'll send two of us to escort them until they at least are out of Ozmone. If they do help us, I'll send them via the typical route for shipments. When the bandits attack then, it's our turn. We knock them out and turn them in, receive our bounty for them and then go get our payment with Penelo. Questions?"

"The way you're explaining it now sounds easy, yet we need to be ready for anything. For all we know, these bandits have a six-headed Hydra at their command." Teridax noted.

"If that were the case, I doubt they'd stick to such small scale robbing." I replied. "I'm quite certain these are just ordinary bandits, maybe they became poor because of the war and had to turn to crime, but that's none of our concern."

"Right." Spiriah agreed with a nod. "We're mercenaries after all."

"That's what I was gonna say." I added, shrugging. "Now team, let's go, we've wasted enough time talking. It's time for action."

**Next chapter: The Band of Seven ****works on completing their first job as a band of mercenaries with Icarax as their leader, what else can I say?**

For those wondering, yes, there's a plotline in this story. I've already dropped some hints in past chapters and this one...


	5. Playtime!

**Chapter 5: Playtime!**

"Hmm…" I muttered, making sure I remained well hidden behind the rock I was hiding behind. Beneath me, in a small cave that was part of the huge Zertinan Caves, was our prey. We had journeyed as fast as we could to Ozmone plains, catching up with the shipment in the meantime. After some 'persuading' them 'gently' they agreed to lend us their aid. The shipment had taken the normal route, where all other shipments had been attacked and robbed. I was pleased to see that the bandits did attack the shipment, but we managed to intervene. However, before we could catch any of the thieves, they had fled back into the Zertinan Caves. Chirox, an excellent scout and spy thanks to his shapeshifting armour and experience with flight, had stalked after them. While the shipment went further under guard of Antroz and Teridax, Chirox came to get me and the rest of the team and we followed the Thieves into the caves. The energetic lad had a rough idea of where the Thieves' hideout was. After a bit of searching (okay, quite a bit of searching), we discovered their hideout and right now, we're spying on them, trying to come up with a plan and strategy for capturing them.

"I see about twelve of them." I whispered to Gorast, who sat next to me. The little boy looked around below us carefully. Then he whispered to me:

"There's one more behind that pile of weapons at the western wall of the cave."

I looked to said pile of weapons and slowly nodded. "You're right." I glanced at the Thieves below us, who luckily hadn't noticed us yet. "Only a few carry weapons." I whispered to Gorast. "Probably means the others pick weapons from that pile there. Do you think you can trap that pile of weapons in vines?"

The youngest member of our team looked at the weapons again with a thoughtful look in his eyes. "I can't use my powers from this distance, but I could do it if I could launch a vine-sphere at it with my launcher. Problem is they'll notice it flying at the weapons and then they'll discover us…"

"So we need a distraction." I concluded. I rested my hand on his shoulder for a short while and whispered: "Stay here, I'll sneak over to Chirox and Mutran and see if we can come up with anything. Meanwhile, prepare to load your launcher."

"Got it, brother Icarax." The young boy replied. I nodded and carefully snuck to where Chirox and Mutran were hiding.

"Do you have a plan, brother?" Mutran whispered as I kneeled down next to them. They were hiding behind a huge boulder on a ledge high above the thieves.

"Kind of." I said, pointing to the pile of weapons. "Most thieves right now carry no weapons. Gorast will be able to trap those weapons with vines by shooting a vine-sphere at it, but he'll need a distraction. One that doesn't reveal our presence just yet."

Chirox turned to Mutran. "Sounds like your cup tea."

Mutran brightened and nodded. "You're right. Let me take care of it, brother Icarax."

I eyed Mutran carefully, then nodded slowly. "If you're sure about it. But make sure they have no idea that we're here!"

Mutran's smile widened. "No problem." Then he snuck away, out of sight. A bit later, he reappeared behind a high ledge on the other side of the cave, above a few bandits. Chirox elbowed me.

"Better let Gorast know he has to shoot soon." My companion whispered. I nodded and went back to our youngest member, who was waiting for me with a green sphere in his launcher.

"Prepare yourself to shoot, Gorast." I warned, looking carefully at Mutran on the other side. The boy smirked and glanced at the Thieves a bit below him. Using his mental powers, Mutran attacked their minds. Their minds were so simple, it didn't take the mercenary long to knock them out. The three bandits below him suddenly collapsed without a warning. The others, confused that three of their numbers had suddenly dropped, went over to see what happened.

"Gorast, now." I commanded. The boy nodded and jumped up, took quick aim and fired his energy sphere. It sailed through the air and hit the pile of weapons. The sphere exploded silently and immediately strangling vines began trapping the weapons in their grasp. Gorast ducked behind the ledge again.

"Nice work Gorast." I said, smiling. I glanced from behind our hiding place again. A few more thieves were grabbing their heads in agony, no doubt from another mental assault from Mutran. "With Mutran doing mental work, there's no need for us to do anything anymore." I shrugged.

"I don't think so." A female voice behind us whispered. We turned to see Spiriah sneaking toward us. "I scouted the caves, just in case, and right now ten more thieves are headed this way."

"Damn, reinforcements. They are probably armed?" Spiriah nodded and I sighed, thinking quickly. Below, a few more thieves had dropped while the others had finally noticed their weapons being caught by monstrous vines. "Okay, Spiriah, you and me will go and meet the backup forces, we should be bale to handle them." I turned to Gorast. "Go to Chirox and tell him what's going on. Then you, Chirox and Mutran will deal with the thieves here, can you three do that?"

Gorast nodded. "We can handle eight thieves, most of them unarmed."

"Okay, then get to it." I started sneaking out of the cave, mentioning Spiriah to follow me. "Let's go and kick some butt."

As we sneaked to meet the other thieves, Spiriah whispered: "Having fun, brother?"

"Time of my life." I whispered back with a smile. "How about you?"

"Same as you, I think." She replied with a similar smile. She grabbed her trident. "They are coming, I can hear them."

"Good, time for some action." I said, grinning, my hand grabbing the Twin-Bladed Black Fire Sword tightly. "I'll meet them head on and distract them a bit. You'll knock as much as you can out with your magnetic powers from behind, kay?"

"Good plan." Spiriah replied, then she went into a different tunnel that would make her end up behind the thieves. While she did that, I stepped around the corner, right in front of the thieves. "Yo!" I greeted with a smile. "Lovely weather today, no?"

Startled, the thieves stopped. They quickly recovered from their shock, however, and began drawing all kinds of weapons. "Who the heck are you? What are you doing here?!" One shouted. I shrugged, letting my sword rest casually on my shoulder.

"I'm Icarax from the Band of Seven." I replied with a 'cool' attitude. "And I'm here to get you guys in jail."

The bandits started to laugh stupidly, allowing me to see their stinking mouth full of rotten teeth. My stomach twisted at the disgusting sight. "Yuck." I muttered. "And I thought my father's breath could stink when he came home after a night of drinking."

The bandits stopped laughing as an explosion somewhere else in the caves made the ground shake. They glanced around, looking confused for the source of the quake. "What the hell was that?" One demanded. I smirked.

"Sounds like my friends dealt with yours." I replied, still with a casual and cool attitude. I lifted my sword. "Now it's time I deal with you."

"We'll see who deals with whom, right, men?" A bald dude, whom I guessed was the headman, said. He carried the biggest weapon, a big, clumsy axe. They all charged at me at once, but no sooner they did that or half of them were drawn backwards because their weapons and armour where being drawn towards something. That something was actually someone, namely Spiriah, who amused herself with slamming bandits together with her magnetic powers. It was quite amusing, really. Some were glued together by magnetism, but they still tried to attack her. I would have loved to see how that ended, if it were not for the five remaining bandits heading for me.

I swung my Black Fire Sword. The force of my sword cutting through empty air was enough to blow all five of them on their backs. Grumbling, they got up again, but I hadn't wasted time with standing around and doing nothing. I charged for the nearest thief and knocked his weapon out of his hands with one strike of my sword. So powerful was the hit that the poor dude himself flew backwards through the air again, this time hitting the cave wall, with his head first. The headman charged at me and swung his axe brutally, but my sword blocked it with no effort at all. Then I noticed two more bandits attacking me from behind.

"Now, now," I said "Don't get so pushy behind me." I turned around swiftly, knocking the two out with one powerful blow of my sword, while in the meantime cleaving the axe of the headman in half with the sickle at the end of my sword. As the bald fool jumped at me, I plunged my sword in the sand and then caught the approaching bandit with my bare hands, flinging him against the wall.

"Four down, one to go." I hummed as I picked up my sword again. Confused, I looked around. "Now where did he go?" Then I noticed the last bandit running away through the caves. "Hey now, why leave when it gets fun?" I shouted. I wanted to run after him, but then stopped. I had more than twenty different powers in my body! Why shouldn't I try to use one of those? Aiming my sword at the fleeing thief, I concentrated with all my willpower on him. Somehow I knew how I should do this. And sure enough, the man slammed into the ground, tasting dirt, thanks to me increasing his personal gravity. Smiling, I let my sword rest on my right shoulder again. "Well, that was fun." I grinned, then turned to look at Spiriah, who just finished knocking out her last opponent by sending him crashing into a wall with her magnetic powers. She saw me staring and gave me an innocent, sweet look. I shrugged.

"Well then, that's that." I concluded, eying the ten unconscious bandits. "Let's check up on the others."

"Give me a moment." Spiriah said wit ha smile, waving her trident. She let her magnetic powers loose, sticking the thieves together by magnetizing their rusted armour. "That should keep them in place for a while."

"Good job Spiriah." I complimented her. "Now let's go, we'll pick these up when we return."

When the two of us arrived in the thieves' hideout, the job there had also been done. Gorast just finished tying the thieves together with some strong, tangling vines. Chirox and Mutran stood next to him, keeping a sharp eye on the bandits, most of them unconscious.

"Seems like everything went fine here, huh?" I said with a smile. Chirox turned to me, grinning from ear to ear.

"You bet, brother. Haven't had this much fun in ages."

"Fun, yes." Mutran agreed. "Challenges, no." He glanced at the thieves. "Only a fraction of my mental skills were needed here."

"I didn't exactly expect this to be hard either." I said, shrugging. "I had to do, hmm, maybe four strikes with my sword and it was over already. But I thought this would be a nice job to get me started in this being-a-leader-thing."

"Oh, that it was." Spiriah said, sounding pleased. "I think you did a fine job, brother Icarax."

"I barely had to do a thing." I muttered.

"That doesn't matter!" Gorast shouted with glee. "We had fun! That's all that matters!"

I grinned, picked up his cowboy hat, ruffled through his hairs and then put his hat back on his head. "You're right little one. Did Chirox and Mutran leave some for you to handle?"

"Oh we did." Mutran said with a smirk. "Besides, me and Chirox just love to see how he chases bandits around with carnivorous, running plants."

I blinked. "Carnivorous, running plants?" I repeated slowly, glancing at the young boy.

"They're exaggerating." Gorast shrugged. "All I did was summon some vines that could lash out at the legs of the thieves to trap them."

"Sure." Chirox grinned, trying hard to prevent himself from bursting out in laughter. "Vines that trap legs are so meant to give off searing, skin-burning acid huh?"

"That was a mistake on mother nature's part." Gorast defended himself, looking with red cheeks at the ground.

"Ah, get off his back." I said sternly. "What matters is that we got the thieves, our employer never said in what condition the thieves had to be when we captured them." I turned back towards the entrance of the cave. "Alright, if you can find a way to transport our captives, then do so and let's get out of here and meet up with Antroz and Teridax." I sighed. "Too bad they weren't here to participate in the fun."

Spiriah chuckled. "If I know Teridax and Antroz, then I'm sure they found a way to amuse themselves, somehow."

**Next chapter: having finished their first job, the Band of Seven returns to Rabanastre. After Antroz and Teridax shared their adventures, the seven mercenaries can't help but start looking for fun and adventure… again.**

Believe it or not, finding titles for these chapters can be difficult. P


	6. Stories

**Chapter 6: Stories**

"I'm sorry for leaving you two out of this, Teridax and Antroz, but I had to have someone guard the shipment." I apologized to the two members of our group who weren't with us when we captured the thieves. Right now, we were sitting in a guest room of the Inn where we stayed in Rabanastre. The seven of us were sitting in comfortable couches in front of a fireplace. Kind of weird for fireplaces in a desert city, but then again, nights could be quite cold in the desert. And right now, night was falling, the sun having just disappeared behind the horizon.

"Ah, don't mention it, brother Icarax." Teridax smiled, glancing at Antroz. "Our little trip wasn't uneventful."

Antroz nodded in agreement. "There was plenty to do." He explained. "This world has a nice collection of monsters. We've seen, and fought, strange purple, horse-like monsters with an iron structure on their head and back. Pretty, but violent."

"Don't forget those giant snakes that snuck up on us." Teridax reminded him.

"You mean those scaly, long and thin things that tried to bite me? The ones I killed a couple of twenty from?" Antroz asked, his eyes glittering with amusement.

Teridax laughed. "Yes, those." He glanced at me. "Oh, there were also some big, black birds that couldn't fly. Also violent."

"You're forgetting those huge winged, armoured freaks and those blue, wolf-like things that walked around on two legs." Antroz added.

"Not to mention those strange, glowing balls that tried to zap us with elemental spells as much as they could." The oldest of our group told us with a deep, thoughtful frown.

"Sounds like fun." I concluded, chuckling. I stretched my arms and yawned. "Well I'm glad you guys amused yourselves. Means I've succeeded in doing my job: making sure everyone's having fun."

Spiriah glanced at me with a questioning look in her sapphire eyes. "Did you get our payment, brother?"

I nodded assuring. "No worries there, Spiriah. As soon as Penelo told her boss that we captured the thieves, the old Bangaa was more than willing to give her thousand gil to pay us with. Not to mention the gil we got from turning in the thieves." I grinned and showed them the wallet containing all the money we earned from our first employment. "Dudes, it's amazing. Our first employment ended up making us ten thousand gil richer!"

"I'm not used to this world's money…" Gorast said shyly, eying the wallet. "Is that a lot?"

I picked up his cowboy hat, ruffled through his hairs and put his hat back on. He smiled shyly as I did that. "In this world, it is a hefty sum. To earn this much on our first job, it's pretty amazing." I grinned again and then looked at each of my band members, one by one. "So eh, what do I do with the money?" I asked carefully. "Divide it among us seven, keep it for us seven or what?"

Teridax wasted no time saying: "You hold on to it for all of us, brother. You're the leader, taking care of the money is a task we'll leave to you."

I swallowed hard. "Pretty big task, if you ask me, Teridax." I admit, I didn't feel too sure about this. "I mean, now it's only ten thousand gil, but what if we've earned like, a million? Having to take care of all that money, it's scary."

"Ah, if some of it gets stolen, which would surprise me, it's no big deal. We're not doing this for the money, but for the fun." The shadow user replied, sounding slightly bored. I blinked, looked at the wallet and then at Teridax. Nobody said anything, they all seemed to agree with Teridax.

"Fine then, I'll keep it." I shrugged, attaching the wallet to my belt and then shapeshifting my armour so it kept the wallet safe.

Next to me, Gorast yawned sleepily. I smiled slightly. "I think it's bedtime for you, Gorast." I said, not too loud. "And maybe we all should retire for the night, so we can look for more adventure tomorrow." Gorast yawned again, his eyes practically falling shut because of sleep. "Alright, that's all the confirmation I need." I decided. "To bed young man, and I mean now!"

"Okay." Gorast said. "Goodnight, brother Icarax. Goodnight everyone."

"Sweet dreams Gorast." I smiled as he shuffled out of the room to his (actually ours, since I shared a room with him again) room. As soon as he was gone, I sank back in the couch, my smile widening. "He's such a cutie."

"No doubt about that." Spiriah agreed, standing up. "I think I'll retire for the night too, I'm tired, even though all we did was walk back to Raba-whatever today."

After saying goodnight, Spiriah left too. I glanced at the others. "Best follow her example, all of you. Before I have to chase you out of this room towards your beds."

Chirox grinned. "Just what I needed, my mom shooing me to bed."

"I heard that young man." I replied. "Now shoo, all of you."

"Aren't you going to go to sleep?" Antroz asked, slightly confused. I shook my head.

"Not yet, I need to think about some things." I told him. Antroz merely nodded and left, together with the others. I sighed deeply. Finally some time for myself! I closed my eyes, letting the warmth of the fire engulf me completely. Very peace-giving. I had to think about rather a lot. I had just finished my first employment as a mercenary, and also as the Leader of the Band of Seven. How did I feel about that? Had I enjoyed what I did?

Of course I had. Capturing those bandits, thinking up combat strategy, having fun with Gorast and the others, wielding the Twin-Bladed Black Fire Sword, swinging that huge blade around like it was nothing… It was fun. It felt good, all of that. I had enjoyed doing it and wished nothing more but to do it again. To go on adventure again, fight more battles, have more fun with my new friends. The thought of fighting battles that were much more challenging than this one, the thought of testing out all the different powers I possessed and becoming a master of one of them… Those thoughts were exciting, thrilling. It would seem, with all those happy thoughts, that my decision was made. That I would accept being the leader of the Band of Seven for the rest of my life. But a small part of myself stopped me. What did I know about the other six members of the Band? Their abilities, weapons and personalities. But beyond that? What did I know about their past? About their reasons to become what they are now? What did I know about the secrets they were hiding from me? And most important of all: what did I know about the past of the Band of Seven itself? A past my friends weren't willing to share with me. There was something not right about all of this. There was something they weren't telling me. I trusted them completely, I could sense that their intentions were honest. I had nothing to fear from them. It was something else, something they would like to forget. And I wouldn't make my final decision about what to do with my life until I knew what that something they were hiding from me was.

* * *

About an hour later, I too left the guestroom and prepared to go to bed. As I went upstairs to the room me and Gorast shared, however, I saw someone standing outside on the balcony.

Mutran.

Intrigued as to why he was gazing at the night sky instead of sleeping, I went towards him. He didn't seem to notice me until I came standing next to me and said: "You're not tired, Mutran?"

A bit startled, he looked at me out of the corner of his eyes. "Oh, brother Icarax." His gaze drifted back to the full moon. "I simply couldn't sleep. I never can on these nights."

"Why?" I asked carefully, looking at the moon as well. It was shedding its pale light silently over Ivalice, a beautiful but somewhat otherworldly sight. Mutran laughed humourlessly.

"The sight of the full moon, I guess." The fifteen year old lad replied. He shook his head and sighed. "The sight of the full moon gives me bad memories."

"How so?" I asked again, being careful not to be too pushy. Mutran waited a long time before replying.

"It was… his favourite time of the month. The night of the full moon, he always loved it."

"Who?"

Mutran sighed again, bowing his head. I put my hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Mutran, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

My friend shrugged silently, then looked up to the moon again. "It doesn't matter, brother." He whispered, though it seemed more like a sigh. "I've become so used to the fact that he's gone, that it no longer pains me so much. It's just… when gazing at the full moon like this… Some of that pain, pain coming from loss, always manages to return to me." He turned his head to me and looked my straight in the eyes. "I had a younger brother once, long ago. Vican. He loved the full moon, though he never explained why." Another sigh escaped Mutran's lips. "It was a harmless obsession, or so I thought. What bad things could happen as long as he gazed at the full moon from behind a safely locked window?" His lips formed a bitter smile. "That is, until he found a way to unlock the window. So captivated by the full moon, he didn't realize he had climbed out of the window, in an effort to come closer to the moon…"

I was silent all the time while Mutran spoke. I was beginning to understand what had happened… Mutran swallowed hard.

"He never screamed, even as he fell from so high. So only when I too went to go to sleep, I discovered that…" Another sigh. "That my brother was no longer among the living." Mutran laughed again, with that same hollow, pained and bitter voice. "Even when he was dead, he still had that dreamy smile on his face. The same smile that was always there when it was the night of the full moon." Mutran shrugged. "He was gone, and with it, my last purpose in life. I had been taking care of him since we became orphans… And then all of the sudden he was gone."

"Is that how you joined the Band of Seven?" I asked quietly. Next to me Mutran stood, telling me about the most painful thing that had happened in his life without me even having asked for it. He looked kind of depressed and sad, yet somehow not. Maybe he had told the truth, and he simply had become used to the pain of loss.

"I had no longer any purpose in my life." Mutran continued, not noticing my pondering. "Then they came… Teridax, Gorast and…" He hesitated. "Spiriah… Gorast was younger back then and he reminded me so much of Vican… So when they invited me to come along, I did not hesitate. I had a purpose again. I was with friends again. I could have fun again. And I had someone to protect again." He briefly glanced at me. "And so the band of three became the band of four. And whenever I look at the full moon, I remember. Remember all that has happened to make me to what I am now."

I was silent for a long time, then I simply laid my hand on his shoulder again. "I'm sorry for making you tell me all that."

Mutran shrugged once more, looked at me again and then… smiled. A honest smile of happiness. "Ah, brother Icarax. If I can't tell the people who are dearest to me what is bothering me, then who can I tell?"

**Next chapter: The usual Band of Seven stuff, if there is 'usual Band of Seven stuff' by now, heh. No really, I'm sorry, I have no idea what next chapter will be about, sorry. XD**

Daughter of ether, thankie for the advice and the reply. :p How's this chapter as far as adding dept to my elemental mage (Mutran in this case) goes? Maybe a little bit too predictable, but bleh. I have no idea how long this story is gonna be, but it will be at least a chapter or 20, I think. So I still have time to work with my characters, right?


	7. It takes effort

**Chapter 7: It takes effort**

"It's hot."

"I know."

"It's full of sand."

"I know."

"Did I mention it's hot?"

"You did."

Chirox sighed and let himself fall on the ground, in the hot sand of the desert. He was annoyed by all the sand and the heat. His wrist blades reflected the sunlight right in my eyes and I turned away, shielding my eyes.

"Knock it off, you're blinding me." I said.

"Not my fault, blame the sun." He replied.

"You rather went with Spiriah and Mutran to Giza plains? I heard it's the rains there, they'll be soaked by the time they come back."

"At least it's cool there." Chirox snorted. I rolled my eyes and kicked him.

"Get up, the faster you do the faster we can find our beastie and the faster you can get out of here." I looked around while Chirox got to his feet. He dusted the sand of himself and sighed.

"Tell me again what we're looking for, brother Icarax." He sighed.

"A huge slug called a sandworm. They're rare in Ivalice, and even rarer in the sands of Dalmasca. People don't like them so we got hired to get rid of it." I replied, shouldering my Twin-Bladed Black Fire Sword. Yup, I still love that pose.

"I do wish I went with Mutran and Spiriah, at least they are hunting a bunch of criminals. Much more exciting than an overgrown worm." Okay, his whining was becoming annoying.

"Instead of whining, fly around and look for our worm. I'll look for it by going on foot."

Chirox shrugged and shapeshifted himself a pair of batwings that seemingly were growing out of his shoulders. Just as he was about to take off, he turned to me, a puzzled look on his face. "Eh, just one question brother. How do you know you've found a sandworm?"

"Isn't that obvious? You look for a very big worm, walk up to it and ask if it's the sandworm we're looking for. If it attacks you, you've found it." Obviously that was sarcasm. The fourteen year old lad grinned, then flew off. Finally, some rest.

It's been a week or two since my little talk with Mutran. I haven't found out much more about the past of my friends yet, but I'm not in a hurry to find out. We did a job here and there, sometimes doing a hunt when we found no job to keep us busy. Today we've split up into three groups, each doing a different kind of job. I split up because I decided the jobs that were offered weren't challenging enough for all seven of us together. As you probably noticed, me and Chirox are busy hunting a Sandworm. Another band of criminals is being hunted by Spiriah and Mutran on the Giza Plains, while Antroz, Teridax and Gorast were escorting a cargo of goods for a salesman in Rabanastre, from Nalbina to Dalmasca. Easy work, good payment.

As for me, I was doing pretty fine. I've been experimenting with the gigantic amount of powers I have – by now I had discovered I had more than 50 powers or so, as did the others – and tried to see which power I liked best. So far, I enjoyed Gravity-control. And density-control. It's fun letting your atoms drift apart, then together again. Or to let an enemy's atoms drift so apart until he dies. But in fact I liked all my powers, so I've been developing them all. The others all focussed on one power, but I'm not really into that idea. Diversity is the spice of battle and destruction, after all.

Just then, Chirox came back, looking somewhat excited.

"Found it?" I inquired.

"Perhaps. I noticed some huge holes in the sand not too far away. That could have been made by what we're looking for." My younger band-member informed me.

"Perhaps indeed. Let's check it out."

Well, to say those holes were large was an understatement. They had to be made by the sandworm. Hopefully it was still in a hole under the ground there.

"Let's see if he's home." I said. I looked at Chirox. "You want to do the honours?"

"Sure!" He smiled. "I'll ring the bell."

Calling upon his cyclone powers, Chirox swept all the sand away, so that a pit of a few metres deep was made. At the bottom, there was a layer of rock with holes in it. It made me realize how much sand Dalmasca had. I glanced at my younger 'brother' again.

"Nobody's answering. Perhaps I should knock instead of ringing the bell." I pointed my Twin-Bladed Black Fire Sword at the largest hole and charged up my shattering powers. Then I fired off a destructive energy blast from the tip of my sword. It flew in the hole and then exploded, sending huge chunks of rock flying everywhere.

When the dust settled, we both could hear rumbling in the depths of the ground. Something slithered upwards towards the surface. I smiled at Chirox.

"Looks like he's home after all."

The sandworm burst out of his hole, roaring. It was an ugly monstrosity, easily ten times my size. Stinking sliver dripped out of its gigantic, round maw. It was a wriggling, slimy mass of fat flesh and it was disgusting.

"I think I'm gonna admit you were right Chirox." I snorted. "Being with Mutran and Spiriah would have been so much better than this thing."

The worm noticed us and attacked, lunging at Chirox. The young lad chuckled and soared into the air, out of the sandworms reach. Then he used his specialty: lightning. His wristblades crackled with energy as he unleashed powerful bolts of bright blue lightning. Having not seen him use his specialty before, I was awed at the sheer size of his lightning bolts and their power. The lightning bolts rained down upon the worm, damaging it, but not killing it. It's slimy, thick skin protected it somewhat against Chirox' assault. Now it was my turn.

I raised my blade, pointing it at the sandworm. Then I slowly lowered it and as I did so, increased its personal gravity. Despite all its efforts, the sandworm could not win against one of nature's most powerful forces and it was pressed down in the sand.

"Chirox, fry it!" I commanded. My airborne ally nodded and unleashed his lightning again. Soon a blast of my shattering power joined his lightning. The sandworm could not stand against our combined powers and exploded into a million of slimy, stinking and disgusting pieces.

"Yuck." I made a face like I was about to vomit. I quickly used a cyclone to cover up the stinking remains with sand. Then I shouldered my sword again and watched Chirox land next to me and shapeshift his wings away.

"Now, that's that." I said, relieved. "The desert should be a bit safer again. Let's go collect our pay."

--

As we walked back to Rabanastre, we didn't really say much. Chirox was humming a tune I didn't recognize, looking quite happy. Yet a question was burning on my tongue. Perhaps now was the time to ask, since he appeared to be in a good mood.

"Chirox…" I began slowly. He looked at me.

"Yes?"

"A while ago… Mutran told me about how he came to join the Band of Seven… Told me about Vican…" Chirox' smile dropped, his expression changing to serious. "Did you know of Vican?"

Chirox nodded. "I did. Mutran and I are close friends. He told me, not that long after I had joined the Band."

Pressing on, I asked: "And what made you join, Chirox?"

Chirox sighed and shook his head. "Truly, brother Icarax, that is something I would rather not talk about."

I nodded silently and didn't ask anything else. But still, I was thinking… Why did it seem like all my fellow Band-members were carrying a rather painful past with them? And more importantly, why would they not tell me about it? They claimed to be my friends, they claimed to want me as their leader, yet whenever I want to learn more about them, they avoid the subject. I wonder… Why? I was determined to find out, even though it would take effort, obviously.

--

**Next chapter: more stuff will happen.**

**Woah, where have I been?! I don't know. I didn't really feel like writing for a while. Ugh, I'm almost becoming like Kel, barely ever finishing a story. Still, the new King of the Dead chapter somehow inspired me to write a new chapter for this story. Dunno why. Oh well, perhaps I'll update again soon, who knows? I've been having ideas for a different story as well, but I shouldn't become like Kel, starting tons of new fics that barely ever get done. Sorry Kel, but that's the one thing about you that manages to annoy me! XD**


	8. A fine bloody banquet

**Chapter 8: A fine bloody banquet**

You know, one of the nice things about having Gorast as a friend, is that he can take you anywhere. As you know, he took us seven to Ivalice of FF XII. And what's nice about that, is that you get to see the place for real. And the people in it. So you can imagine, I hope, how I felt upon seeing Vayne Carudas Solidor entering Rabanastre as its new Consul. The sight of the man just screamed 'power' and stuff.

But that's it. I felt excited, somewhat, upon seeing Vayne in flesh and blood, but that quickly passed. He wasn't any of my business. I was here to have fun and adventure and to see if I liked he life as the Leader of the Band of Seven. I was here to make money as a mercenary. I cared little for this world or it's politics.

At least, that's what I had believed at that time. But then, next you know, you're sitting in the Sandsea enjoying a drink with your friends when all of the sudden Imperials rush in and arrest you.

It's not that we couldn't handle them. Our powers were far beyond any normal Imperial, or even a judge. I briefly wondered if even Vayne as 'The Undying' could stand up against the combined might of us Seven. But I told my friends to stay calm. I wanted to find out first what these dudes wanted of us. If necessary, we could always escape later, no problem. To my surprise, the Imperials took us straight to Vayne. And what he said, surprised me even more.

--

Vayne smiled and mentioned the Imperial guards to leave us alone. As soon as they were gone, he eyed all Seven of us briefly, but said nothing. I glared at him. Should I speak first or not? I looked at the others, they were tensed, probably ready to summon any of their powers as soon as needed.

"I bid you welcome to my estate." Vayne then said casually. "I am very glad to see that you decided to accept my… invitation."

"Some invitation." I snorted. "Look, Lord Vayne, what did we do to get arrested like this?"

Vayne seemed unfazed. "It is not something you did, rather something you will do."

"Oh?" Now we were curious, all seven of us.

"I ordered you Seven to be brought here… Because I wish to discuss… employment with you." The consul said slowly.

Our eyes widened. Yours would too, if the game's main villain suddenly told you he wanted to talk about a job for us.

"You are warrior mercenaries, are you not?" The third son of Emperor Gramis asked simply. We nodded. "You Seven appeared quite suddenly in these lands and have been getting quite a bit of a reputation here in Rabanastre. That caught my attention and now I think I might have need of your services."

"Our services come with a price." I said shortly. "If our employer is consul, farmer or even a god, we demand payment."

Vayne smiled cruelly. "I see your loyalty can only be bought. Excellent. For the employment I wish to discuss, requires you to pick no side in the little war the Empire I hail from is having."

"We have nothing to do with the wars and politics of Ivalice, and frankly we don't give a damn either." I informed the consul. "So impartiality shall not be a problem, Lord Vayne. May I thus, in the name of me and the rest of my Band, inquire what this Employment is?"

"You may." Vayne answered. He sat down in his richly decorated chair behind his desk. "I am holding a banquet tonight, celebrating my arrival. However, that is merely a diversion. I am in fact, expecting unwelcome guests."

I frowned. "I assume you are speaking of the insurgents I have heard about?"

He nodded again. "Indeed. They are a… nuisance and shall be dealt with. My fleet is ready to attack the insurgents as soon as they arrive… However I am preparing for everything. While my men will fight them head on above the ground, I am confident some of the insurgents will attempt to flee once they see the battle is lost." Vayne smirked. "I have need of some strong fighters who will patrol the old Waterway under the Palace and hunt down any insurgents who flee through there. Either capture or kill them, I care little."

I pondered this for a moment. It sounded like the best job-offer we had gotten so far. I looked at the others. "What do you guys think?"

"It sounds exciting." Chirox replied.

"Exactly the work we're looking for." Spiriah noted.

"A job perfect for us." Mutran agreed. The others all shared a similar opinion. Well, it was decided then. I turned back to the consul.

"You made us a fine offer, and we will accept. However, this does bring up the case of payment. We expect a serious payment-offer."

"Of course." Vayne replied, as if what I had said was the most obvious thing in the world. "I offer five thousand gil for taking the job, and thousand will be added to that for every insurgent you can capture and bring to me and my men."

Well, that's bloody good payment. Better than most we've gotten so far! Without even bothering to see if the others liked the sound of the payment, I said:

"Lord Vayne, the Band of Seven is now entirely in your service for as long as the banquet lasts."

--

"You know, I had really expected this place to smell worse." I said to the others as we trudged through the old waterway.

"That's all fine and dandy" Antroz grumbled. "I just wish it weren't so wet."

I laughed. "What, are you afraid of getting wet, Antroz?"

He grumbled something I couldn't understand. I decided to ignore it and instead focus on our job. This ought to be fun! With a little luck, it would be us who would capture the 'leading man' and company. I turned to the others.

"I just realized, we actually don't have to patrol the area. There's only two exits or so. And two of them lead straight back to the battle. We can just wait for any insurgents to run in our open arms at the other exit."

"Is the other exit dry?" Antroz grumbled. I smiled.

"Well, more so than here at least, only…" I suddenly remembered what lurked at the exit near the sluice gate. A Firemane.

"Only what, brother?" Gorast wanted to know. I shrugged.

"There lives a rather nasty spirit of flame near the exit I'm talking about. A hot beastie in the shape of a horse." I replied, curious to what their reaction would be. To my amusement, their expressions were ones of boredom.

"How powerful is that spirit? Can you tell us that, brother?" Teridax asked friendlily.

"I have no idea how powerful regular people would call it…" I answered slowly, thinking back to how unprepared I had been during my fight with that thing in the game, but how I still kicked its fiery behind. Then I smirked. "But I can tell you that, for sure, it doesn't stand a chance at all against the Seven of us."

"Then lead the way, brother." Teridax smiled back at me. "Personally, I'm with Antroz. I prefer to stay dry if possible."

I did not say anything to that, merely turned around and tried to remember which way it was. As we were walking through the shallow waters, I suddenly realized something.

"Wait a second, why are you complaining about getting wet?!" I shouted, realizing my own stupidity. "You two can fly!"

--

The sluice gates slammed close behind us. We had our weapons at ready. Cautiously I stepped forward slightly, looking around, trying to find any sign of the Firemane.

"Be on your guard everybody." I warned. "It might not stand a chance against us Seven, but fire still burns no matter how strong we are." I glanced around. Still nothing in sight. "Spread out." I hissed. My friends nodded and all went in different directions, cautiously examining the room for any signs of the expected enemy. As we searched in complete silence, something caught Antroz' eye. He was flying with a pair of dragonish wings just above the water, when he noticed a bit of steam coming from behind the only female member of our Band.

"Spiriah, behind you!" He shouted.

The girl whirled around just in time to see the Firemane appear suddenly out of thin air in front of her. I cursed myself, how could I forget this thing could teleport?! The spirit of Flame reared on its hind-legs and prepared to strike the startled Spiriah.

"Oh no you don't." Teridax hissed, appearing suddenly at the Firemane's side. He raised his clawed hands and a pillar of water shot up from under the Firemane and slammed it away. By now all Seven of us had turned our attention on the vengeful spirit. The fire horse got on its feet again and immediately made the room explode into flames. Antroz scoffed.

"That is fire?" He yelled at the beast, while the rest of us shielded ourselves from the heat one way or the other. "Pitiful! This is how it's done!"

Antroz crossed his huge claw-blades and fired of a powerful blast of flame. Being an elemental creature, the Firemane came unharmed out of the blast, but our fiery brother was just getting started. The fire horse launched its own blast of fire at Antroz, who simply knocked it aside with no effort at all. He then landed in the water, ignoring the fact that his shoes became drenched. He then increased his own body temperature to unbelievable heights, turned the water all around him into steam. He slammed down his blades into the water, sending a wave of it at the Firemane. As it travelled it became steam because of the sheer heat that Antroz emitted. The steam all drifted around the Firemane, obscuring it from our view. The Firemane didn't experience any pain from the searing steam, but it did dislike not seeing things or breathing this thick, wet air. It teleported itself out of the cloud of steam. Which Antroz had expected. He sensed where the heat was moving to before the horse even materialized again, and teleported to there as well. As the horse appeared right in front of the waiting Antroz, we could all see his smirk.

"This is the end, creature. I, and I alone, am the Master of heat and flame! Think about that in the netherworld!" He shouted, even as he slammed his blades in the creature's head. If that wasn't enough, our brother went as far as draining all the heat out of the creature and adding it to his own energies. Soon, there was nothing left of the Firemane, nothing at all.

Very pleased with himself, Antroz turned to us. I noticed all the others looking at him as if they were bored to tears.

"Show-off!" Chirox scoffed.

Antroz ignored the jab and looked at me. "You were right, brother Icarax. It stood no chance, no chance at all."

"Did you even break a sweat, Antroz?" I asked slowly.

He shook his head. "Not at all."

I sighed deeply. "We're seriously overpowered." I muttered. Just then, we heard running footsteps outside the sluice gates. I brightened immediately.

"All of you, get out of sight, now!" I commanded. If they were wondering what was going on, they didn't show it. I figured my brothers would be smart enough to realize that we had some insurgents coming our way. I shouldered my Twin-Bladed Black Fire Sword and waited.

The sluice gates opened and four figures came running through. I smiled as I recognized them. Balthier, Fran, Vaan and Ashe. They saw me too and came to a halt. For a moment we just stared at each other.

"Four insurgents." I smiled. "That'll make a rather nice amount of gil."

"Who… who are you?" Vaan asked, confused. I noticed the young man eyeing my sword with amazement.

"I go by the name of Icarax." I answered truthfully. "I am the leader of the Band of Seven. Lord Vayne hired us to take care of any insurgents that would attempt to escape his fine bloody banquet through this old waterway."

"Resistance." I could hear Ashe mutter, even as she unsheathed her sword and glared at me with hatred. "How dare you stand in our way and claim to serve under Vayne, that… that monster!"

I shook my head and sighed. "Listen lady, I'm not 'serving' under Vayne. He hired me and my brothers for tonight only and that's that. I could care less what you think of that, or Vayne for that matter. All I'm interested in is doing my job and getting my payment."

"Despicable." Ashe fumed. "How you sell your honour and loyalty…"

"That's the life of a mercenary and I'm fine with it." I readied my sword. "This is nothing personal, really, just doing my job."

As the Princess of Dalmasca looked like she was about to attack me, I noticed Balthier and Fran didn't really feel like having this encounter. They turned to the gates, only to see them slam shut. Spiriah approached with her Trident ready. I figured she had just used her magnetism to shut the gates. The others were now also approaching the four. We had them surrounded.

"Now," I said, turning my attention to the four again. "We can do this calmly and gently or you could try and fail miserably to fight us."

I don't know if it was something I said, but Ashe apparently had enough – or maybe she was just desperate – and rushed towards me with her sword drawn. I glared at her. Foolish woman. I never liked her that much in the early parts of XII's story. One little push of my gravity powers was enough to slam her hard on the ground. She tried to get up, but gravity's push was too great. I looked at Balthier, who sighed and shook his head at the Princess' behaviour.

"Now, I'm sure the Leading Man will be much more reasonable?"

"Of course." Balthier said, seemingly annoyed that this all was taking so long. Or perhaps he was annoyed that this all was happening to him. I didn't know and didn't really care. We took all four of them to the consul who was waiting above the ground and received our payment the next morning. We even got double payment for capturing Ashe.

--

Now that I think of it, after doing a job for Vayne we became much more famous and well-known. We got more job-offers than before and better payment, even outside Dalmasca. Telling about all those jobs would take too long. And there really isn't that much to tell about good things. To put it simply, we had the time of our lives, made money and had fun for weeks.

Yet in those weeks, I didn't ask about my friends' past. I didn't really feel the urge to do so, nor did I have the time. We were quite busy. I told myself I would ask later.

Of course, as it turned out, I didn't have to ask. The past itself decided to show up and interfere with our lives. Now that I think of it, doing that job for Vayne made us famous. And apparently, that was also the beginning of our problems.

--

**Next chapter: We get a little bit more info about just what happened with the Band before Icarax joined. **

Ah, finally we're about to get to the main plot! I'm excited. Eh, hope I'm not moving too fast. If people really want to read more about the fun and jobs the Band had after their job for Vayne, ask, and I'll write.


End file.
